This invention relates to safety closures for use on containers to prevent easy access to the contents therein by particularly small children and more particularly relates to a safety closure having an internal locking lug for engagement with outwardly extending locking tabs on the neck of a container.
Various types of locking mechanisms are known for securing closures or caps onto containers which are used for medicines and/or toxic substances. The primary objective of such locking mechanisms is to prevent young children from removing the closure from the container and thereby being exposed to the medicines or toxic substances therein. There are a number of safety disclosures taught in the prior art for the specific use of preventing easy removal by small children with access to the containers. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,770,153 teaches a safety closure which teaches a cap with an internal threaded wall portion with downwardly protruding lugs on the lower edge of the wall for mating relation with a lug recess on a container neck whereby continued rotation of the cap leads the lug into the recess thereby releasibly locking the cap upon the container neck and unlocking is accomplished by applying an inward squeezing force to the cap or portion of the cap to flex the lug outwards to disengage the lugs from the lug recess. However, in many of these prior art references teaching internal locking lugs, the user is unable to observe a lock/unlock function. And, in many cases, because of the inability to see the locking and unlocking functions of the cap with the neck of the container, the cap may not be rotated sufficiently to place the locking lug and locking recess or tab in a locking position.